I fell in love with clay as a medium when taking my first ceramics class in college. I delighted in being able to manipulate the clay directly with my hands, seeing a 3-dimensional form arise from them. To me, the process was more akin to growing art, rather than sculpting or constructing it.

This may be why years after I had graduated, I wanted to return to the medium and explore the form of one particular piece I created for an assignment. Its form was spherical with a root-like base supporting it. I imagined this piece slumbering deep in a forest, waiting for some adventurous trekker to stumble upon it. Several years ago I had the opportunity to explore this form and idea again--and from this grew my “pods.”

I envision these organic pieces sprouting far below the earth to later explode through the surface, catching strolling bystanders unawares. Or washing up onto the beaches from the bowels of the ocean, surprising the everyday shell collector. The reaction I most hope to provoke is, “What is that?”--that the viewer feels they’ve uncovered something unknown in the flora (or maybe even fauna) kingdom, and wishes to know more.

Perhaps this idea of “discovery” connects to my former interest in archaeology. I had once thought I would become an archaeologist--had even pursued a degree in the field. Working in the earth, creating a story from dirt-covered relics speaks very closely to the ceramicist in me. The difference in my pods is they represent the treasures of the present--growth, cycles, life--rather than those of the past.

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